Jeanne Mordoj
The contemporary bearded lady. The author of one of the best solo shows around, Eloge du Poil (In Praise of Hairiness), Jeanne Mordoj is a contortionist, yoke juggler, ventriloquist, puppeteer – an artist with a highly personalised and eccentric suite of skills that provide enough character, grace and beauty to balance a (perhaps Gallic) penchant for the vulgarities of death and the body. Amid the stale expressions of 'gender subversion' that proliferate in contemporary circus, Eloge du Poil, which sees Mordoj bearded throughout, stands way, way out: sly, ambivalent, teasing, erotic, full of life.
Magazine
Bring on the gallows! A trapdoor in the floor is thrown back and the gallows carried in, fixed in place over a tank of water, and strung with a perforated metal box that contains two animate badger skulls (brothers). In punishment for their disobedience, they are lowered into the water and held there for several minutes.
‘Attention spans will be even shorter than now, perhaps too short for words. Stitched together from the strongest limbs of circus, puppetry, movement and dance, visual theatre is an unconquerable monster destined to overcome all other modes of discourse.’ - Joseph Seelig, co-director, London International Mime Festival.
Sideshow searches for the strongest monsters in the 2010 line-up, including work from six countries and nine companies.